408 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



is apt to produce strong turnips, unless the soil is specially pre- 

 pared for the crop. In his paper Mr. Beardsley spoke of putting 

 in turnips after peas; putting turnips in after potatoes is just as 

 applicable. This year we had a crop of early potatoes, and we 

 dug them, I think, about the 15th of July; then we seeded the 

 ground to the purple top turnip and rutabagas, and the seed lay in 

 the ground almost up to the first of September 'before it germin- 

 ated, and then it came on and made a fine crop. Ordinarily tur- 

 nips will come up in a few days arid start right off growing. A 

 difference of two or three days in the sowing of seed of any crop 

 will make a vast difference. I nave had considerable experience 

 as a market gardener, and I find if I get my seed in just at the 

 opportune time I can usually count on a good crop, but if I neglect 

 to put it in within two or three days of that time I may have a loss. 



Mr. Lord : I was at a great loss to know why they should be 

 so rank. It was old cultivated ground; it had been in black rasp- 

 berries for ten years, then I plowed them up and put in rutabagas. 

 Tney made a very fine growth, and I thought they would be of a 

 fine quality. I never tasted any so strong; we could not eat them 

 at all. I did not know whether it was the character of the seed or 

 the character of the soil. I was at a loss to find a reason. 



Mr. Elliot: It was a lack of potash. 



Mr. Frank Yahnke: The trouble with those turnips was that 

 they got a good start, and when the dry weather came they 

 stopped growing, but when the conditions were more favorable 

 they made a second growth, and that caused that rank taste. 



Mr. J. S. Parks: The saying is that "one side is good until 

 the other side is told." It has been remarked that old soil is not 

 as good for turnips as new soil. A case in practice comes to my 

 mind. This morning I ate some of the finest rutabaga turnips I 

 ever tasted in this city, and I made the remark that they were 

 extra nice. They said the reason for that was tnat they had been 

 grown on old soil. Where my brother-in-law bought them they 

 had some grown on new soil and on old soil, and those that had 

 been grown on new soil were ten cents per bushel cheaper than 

 those grown on old soil. (Laughter.) 



Mr. Jno. Freeman: I have for years sowed the strap-leaved 

 turnip in my oats for fall feeding. They were sown the first part 

 of May and sprouted well, and then this fall there came a dry spell, 

 and they stood still, and some of them died. After the rains those 

 that lived grew, and we have never eaten finer turnips or sweeter. 

 Those strap-leaved turnips grew from three to ten inches in 

 diameter. 



The President: The best success I ever had in getting good, 

 nice and tender turnips without a bad taste or a strong smell I got 

 by making them grow just as fast as possible. 



Mrs. J. O. Weld: My husband is not present, so I will just 

 speak a word for his turnips. He broke a piece of new land and 

 raised seventy bushels of turnips, and they were the best turnips 

 I ever tasted. 



